Christina Olague, the newest member of the Board of Supervisors, faces a difficult balancing act. She was appointed by Mayor Ed Lee, whom she supported as co-chair of the controversial "Run Ed Run" campaign, to fill the vacancy in District 5, an ultra-progressive district whose voters rejected Lee in favor of John Avalos by a 2-1 margin.Read more »

steve@sfbg.com

Burning Man is a hyper-collaborative event controlled by its tens of thousands of participants — except when it isn't, as when policies are dictated by the six-member board of SF-based Black Rock City LLC. And that core conflict now has many burners seething, without tickets to this year's event, critical of a badly designed new ticket distribution system, and wary of reassurances being offered by the LLC.Read more »

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has hailed the success of its SFpark program — which uses high-tech meters and demand-variable pricing to manage on-street parking — noting that expired meter citations are down and meter revenue is up. The resulting 11 percent net increase in revenue  is all going to improve Muni. So transit improves, drivers get more spots and fewer tickets — everybody wins.Read more »

Michael Hennessey has served as San Francisco's sheriff for half of his life, the longest such career in California history — and by all accounts the most progressive. Since taking office in 1980, Hennessey has been an island of liberal enlightenment in a political climate and law enforcement culture where tough-talking conservatism has been ascendant.Read more »

MAYOR
1. John Avalos
2. Dennis Herrera
3. Leland Yee

DISTRICT ATTORNEY
1. David Onek
2. Sharmin Bock
3. Bill Fazio

SHERIFF
1. Ross Mirkarimi

BALLOT MEASURES

Proposition A (school bonds): YES
Proposition B (street bonds): YES
Proposition C (consensus pension reform): YES
Proposition D (Adachi pension reform): NO
Proposition E (changing voter initiatives): NO Read more »

steve@sfbg.com

DRUGS With polls showing that California voters are probably poised to approve Proposition 19 in November and finally fully legalize marijuana, this should be a historic moment for jubilant celebration among those who have long argued for an end to the government's costly war on the state's biggest cash crop. But instead, many longtime cannabis advocates — particularly those in the medical marijuana business — are voicing only cautious optimism mixed with fear of an uncertain future.Read more »

rebeccab@sfbg.com

Fresh coats of paint are hitting the pavement in San Francisco, creating new zones of supposed safety for bicyclists. But that long-awaited change comes at a time when local cyclists are as fearful as ever of automobiles, particularly following a horrifying incident in which a motorist intentionally ran down four cyclists.Read more »

rebeccab@sfbg.com

Downtown Oakland became supercharged with emotion in the hours following the July 8 announcement of the verdict in the trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. And in the days that followed, the city remained electrified as residents struggled to make sense of the verdict, the rioting that occurred in its wake, and the historic significance of these developments.Read more »